1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a cocking mechanism for a crossbow. More particularly, the present invention is concerned with an improved crossbow provided with a cocking device which is easier to operate than other known devices, in that it requires less strength.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Crossbows have been known for a long time and they still constitute a piece of sporting equipment which is favored by many people. However, like everything else, the trend is to produce a device which is attractive and as easy as possible to operate by the vast majority of people.
In the early days, crossbows were cocked manually. To do this, the string was grasped with the fingers of both hands to be thereafter engaged by the trigger mechanism. Of course, this limited greatly the use of a crossbow, mainly because a normal person does not always have enough strength to achieve sufficient cocking to enable the crossbow to produce all the energy that could be expected of such a piece of equipment.
To obviate this difficulty, especially when the crossbow was used by the military, mechanical cocking devices were designed which were nearly all cumbersome, expensive, complicated to manufacture and operate and also time consuming.
The prior art is loaded with such cocking devices which have the disadvantages mentioned above. The following patents are pertinent:
______________________________________ German 56,828 June 6, 1891 Heynemann et al U.S. 2,092,361 September 7, 1937 Shirm U.S. 3,028,851 April 10, 1962 Drake U.S. 3,043,287 July 10, 1962 Nelson U.S. 3,538,901 November 10, 1970 Switack U.S. 3,670,711 June 20, 1972 Firestone U.S. 3,783,852 January 8, 1974 Shepherd U.S. 3,968,783 July 13, 1976 Pftenhauer U.S. 4,258,689 March 31, 1981 Barnett ______________________________________